Liquid Crystalline Compositions as Gas Sensors

Droplets and films of liquid crystalline mixtures were studied as promising detectors of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air. Under increasing concentration of VOC in the air the detection may rely on each of the following effects sequentially observed one after the other: i. slight changes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMolecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Vol. 611; no. 1; pp. 94 - 99
Main Authors Shibaev, P. V., Wenzlick, M., Murray, J., Tantillo, A., Howard-Jennings, J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia Taylor & Francis 13.04.2015
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
cholesteric
Crystals
detection
Fluids
gas
Gases
liquid crystals
Microscopy
nematic
Sensors
VOC
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds
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Summary:Droplets and films of liquid crystalline mixtures were studied as promising detectors of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air. Under increasing concentration of VOC in the air the detection may rely on each of the following effects sequentially observed one after the other: i. slight changes in orientation and order parameter of liquid crystal, ii. formation of bubbles on the top of the liquid crystalline droplet, iii. complete isotropisation of the liquid crystal. All three stages can be easily monitored by optical microscopy. Detection limits corresponding to the first stage are typically lower by a factor of 3-6 than detection limits corresponding to isotropisation. The qualitative model is presented to account for the observed changes.
ISSN:1542-1406
1563-5287
1527-1943
DOI:10.1080/15421406.2015.1027999